Essays + Reviews Archives - Sixty Inches From Center https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/category/essays-reviews/ Wed, 11 Mar 2026 20:55:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/cropped-Sixty_Logo_Icon_Green-32x32.png Essays + Reviews Archives - Sixty Inches From Center https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/category/essays-reviews/ 32 32 Finding Solace and Awe Along The Great Lakes: A Review of On an Inland Sea https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/finding-solace-and-awe-along-the-great-lakes-a-review-of-on-an-inland-sea/ Wed, 11 Mar 2026 22:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=74207 A reflection on the vastness of The Great Lakes through poems, essays, and personal stories set in Belt Publishing's newest anthology.

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]]> Codifying Reality: What is Spoken and What is Felt? https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/codifying-reality-what-is-spoken-and-what-is-felt/ Thu, 05 Mar 2026 23:31:12 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=74004 Personal and collective histories lay at the center of Shifting Tongues at Charlotte Street Foundation.

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]]> Encountering Digital Diaspora: A Review of “Close to the Clouds” at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/encountering-digital-diaspora-a-review-of-close-to-the-clouds-at-bemis-center-for-contemporary-arts/ Tue, 03 Mar 2026 20:28:22 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=74099 In a group exhibition curated by Curator-in-Residence Kathy Cho, nine artists explore the unfamiliar terrain of new technologies.

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]]> Bearing Witness Under the Big Top: Counterpublic’s Circus of Life in St. Louis https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/bearing-witness-under-the-big-top-counterpublics-circus-of-life-in-st-louis/ Sun, 01 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=73766 Artists from a variety of backgrounds convene to tell their stories, all in the service to the community of St. Louis, Missouri.

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]]> ‘Find Your Genre’: Micro-Reviews from the 61st Chicago International Film Festival https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/find-your-genre-micro-reviews-from-the-61st-chicago-international-film-festival/ Sat, 28 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=73504 As Chicago cinema lovers find year-round alternatives to mainstream Hollywood movies, how is the Chicago International Film Festival adapting?

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]]> Through the Looking Glass: Chicago, Change, and the Architecture of Instability https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/through-the-looking-glass-chicago-change-and-the-architecture-of-instability/ Tue, 24 Feb 2026 18:08:41 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=73562 The Sixth Architectural Biennial suggests that architecture’s power lies not in permanence, but in its ability to reveal, question, and respond to the changing ground beneath it.

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]]> (Arts) Writing as Exorcism https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/arts-writing-as-exorcism/ Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:26:47 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=72845 What exorcism can teach us about writing, gendered power, and agency.

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]]> Reflecting on “Signal Overload” at Star Lite Drive-In in Bloomington, Indiana https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/reflecting-on-signal-overload-at-star-lite-drive-in-in-bloomington-indiana/ Thu, 05 Feb 2026 16:17:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=73050 Ian Carstens stitches, patches, weaves perspectives together and lets signals cross and multiply in this experimental review.

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]]> Una toxina amenaza, pero también invita https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/una-toxina-amenaza-pero-tambien-invita/ Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:08:35 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=73197 En la última exposición del artista agustine zegers en la Galería 400, el olor a petróleo evoca recuerdos y emociones para explorar nuestra paradójica ternura hacia las toxinas creadas por el hombre.

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]]> Tracing the significance of the Roger Brown Study Collection (1997-2025) within the midwest arts ecosystem https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/tracing-the-significance-of-the-roger-brown-study-collection-1997-2025-within-the-midwest-arts-ecosystem/ Fri, 09 Jan 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=72584 Gabrielle Christiansen examines the contentious sale of the Roger Brown Study Collection and the threatened future of the artist’s former home in Lincoln Park.

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]]> Review: You will have revelations along felled branches and longer roots/routes https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/review-you-will-have-revelations-along-felled-branches-and-longer-roots-routes/ Tue, 09 Dec 2025 15:26:37 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=72989 Susannah Papish reviews Temitayo Ogunbiyi’s exhibition, "You will have revelations along felled branches and longer roots/routes."

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]]> A Sticky End https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/a-sticky-end/ Mon, 24 Nov 2025 23:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=72788 In an exhibition at Roots & Culture, artists Kitty Rauth and Ále Campos compare histories of sunken cruise ships and gay cruising culture to interrogate the morality of our never-ending search for pleasurable experiences.

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]]> Hearing Space, Seeing Sound: A Review of Andy Graydon’s “Early Reflections” https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/hearing-space-seeing-sound-a-review-of-andy-graydons-early-reflections/ Sat, 22 Nov 2025 16:45:29 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=72829 At Hair + Nails Gallery in Minneapolis, Andy Graydon presented defunct fluorescent bulbs, borrowed garbage, and degraded acetate records in a recent exhibition, encouraging viewers to pay closer attention and discover unexpected synchronicities.

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]]> What Lives In Us Is Never Lost—Review of “Black Defined 1: Ceramics” https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/what-lives-in-us-is-never-lost-review-of-black-defined-1-ceramics/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 22:55:57 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=72740 How does one exhibition with a bold claim
in the title begin the work of defining Blackness through ceramics?

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]]> “People like us do that”: A review of No Stars in Jefferson Park https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/people-like-us-do-that-a-review-of-no-stars-in-jefferson-park/ Wed, 19 Nov 2025 23:10:49 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=71941 A writer reviews the story of Gift Theatre Company, a creative labor of love in Chicago where deep bonds were forged, as recalled by Maggie Andersen.

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]]> The vessel as a nucleus: A review of Sacred Containers: Capsules, Conduits, and Other Stories https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/the-vessel-as-a-nucleus-a-review-of-sacred-containers-capsules-conduits-and-other-stories/ Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:54:35 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=72315 An exhibition that is a shell cracked open, ripe with contents, finding strength in sharing the vulnerability that lies within its protective containment.

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]]> Dancing, Drifting, Dallying https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/dancing-drifting-dallying/ Tue, 18 Nov 2025 15:50:19 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=72612 Irene Hsiao's new performance "Guardians of the Earth and Sky" draws from Chinese cosmology’s four directional guardians: the White Tiger of the West, the Black Tortoise of the North, the Azure Dragon of the East.

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]]> 游动乌托邦 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/%e6%b8%b8%e5%8a%a8%e4%b9%8c%e6%89%98%e9%82%a6/ Tue, 18 Nov 2025 15:50:04 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=72621 谭继平公园的拟态风景

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]]> Material Futures: Mapping A Closed Gallery’s History https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/material-futures-mapping-a-closed-gallerys-history/ Sat, 15 Nov 2025 03:24:39 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=71974 The closure of Goldfinch Gallery marks not an end but a transformation—an emblem of Chicago’s resilient, community-driven art ecosystem where risk, care, and material grit continue to reverberate beyond its walls.

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]]> 家庭寻迹 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/%e5%ae%b6%e5%ba%ad%e5%af%bb%e8%bf%b9/ Thu, 13 Nov 2025 16:33:45 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=71565 江麟冶在芝加哥 4th Ward Project Space 举办的摄影展 Scavenger Hunt，把家庭旧照与父亲雪藏的文字并置，令人思索：当我们说“我们没有爸爸”时，我们到底在说什么？

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]]> Scavenging Queer (Dis)connections https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/scavenging-queer-disconnections/ Thu, 13 Nov 2025 16:33:25 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=71563 At 4th Ward Project Space, Linye Jiang’s ‘Scavenger Hunt’ intertwines family photographs and her father’s hidden words, inviting reflections on diaspora, queer kinship, and what it means when entire communities say ‘we don’t have dads’.

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]]> A toxin threatens, but it also beckons https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/a-toxin-threatens-but-it-also-beckons/ Wed, 29 Oct 2025 15:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=71669 In scent artist agustine zegers’ latest exhibition at Gallery 400, the smell of petroleum summons memory and emotion to explore our paradoxical tenderness for man-made toxins.

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]]> In Service of Liberation: An Arts Journalist Attends the 2025 Socialism Conference https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/in-service-of-liberation-an-arts-journalist-attends-the-2025-socialism-conference/ Wed, 22 Oct 2025 15:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=71509 More than 2,000 people descended upon McCormick Place convention center in Downtown Chicago this July for Haymarket Books’ annual Socialism Conference. In in this essay, arts journalist Mrittika Ghosh reflects on the various panels, lectures, mixers, and social gatherings she attended during the three-day gathering.

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]]> Patient Xerox: A Review of Katz Tepper’s Pharmacy Receipts https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/patient-xerox-a-review-of-katz-teppers-pharmacy-receipts/ Tue, 21 Oct 2025 15:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=71536 Pharmacy receipts become a paper trail and paraphernalia of a personal medical record, testifying to the body as a fragile, relational archive of evolving needs in interdisciplinary artist Katz Tepper’s exhibition at Prairie, Chicago.

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]]> Art in Siblingo: Talking Migration, Quilts, and Teleportation Powers at Zhou B Art Center https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/art-in-siblingo-talking-migration-quilts-and-teleportation-powers-at-zhou-b-art-center/ Thu, 09 Oct 2025 15:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=71439 In a conversation with her brother, writer and educator Chenoa Baker explores the meaning of migration and movement via Zhou B Art Center's exhibition We Built This : Making Through Migration.

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]]> The Risky Sex, or Why I’m Befriending Men https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/the-risky-sex-or-why-im-befriending-men/ Wed, 24 Sep 2025 15:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=71168 In her search for connection, a woman dares to ask: Are men capable of friendship?

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]]> At Waters Edge, A review of “Great Lakes, Great Plains” at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/at-waters-edge-a-review-of-great-lakes-great-plains-at-bemis-center-for-contemporary-arts/ Tue, 23 Sep 2025 18:07:03 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=71042 What can you find at the water's edge? What patterns do you find in the ecology there? What patterns does it parallel beyond itself? How does it replicate?

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]]> The Streets Talk Back: Revitalizing Cleveland’s West Side Through Murals https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/the-streets-talk-back-revitalizing-clevelands-west-side-through-murals/ Tue, 16 Sep 2025 22:18:37 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=70568 BlackBrain Group is nurturing young artists and connecting Cleveland's communities one mural at a time.

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]]> Work, Rest, Love: The Incommensurate in más y more by José A. Luis https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/work-rest-love-the-incommensurate-in-mas-y-more-by-jose-a-luis/ Wed, 10 Sep 2025 20:47:18 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=70238 A writer embedded in the latest dance work of Minneapolis-based artist José A. Luis examines the process of transforming writing to choreography to performance.

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]]> Against All Odds: Inside the 2025 Wonder of Words Literary Festival https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/against-all-odds-inside-the-2025-wonder-of-words-literary-festival/ Wed, 27 Aug 2025 15:00:00 +0000 https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/?p=70242 A peek into a Chicago literary festival that celebrates and centers Black voices, stories, and people.

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